How does ISO develop standards?

An ISO standard is developed by a panel of experts, within a technical
committee. Once the need for a standard has been established, these experts meet to discuss and
negotiate a draft standard. As soon as a draft has been developed it is shared with ISO’s members
who are asked to comment and vote on it. If a consensus is reached the draft becomes an ISO standard,
if not it goes back to the technical committee for further edits. Click on the diagram
below for further
details.

Are you involved in ISO's technical work?

Tools
and publications to help guide the development of standards can be found in the Resource
area.

Every
working day of the year, an average of eight technical meetings
take place somewhere in the world. Increasingly, these are being held using electronic means,
speeding up the development of standards and cutting travel costs.

Key principles in standard development

1. ISO
standards respond
to a need in the market

ISO
does not decide when to develop a new standard, but responds to a request from industry or
other stakeholders such as consumer groups. Typically,
an industry sector or group communicates the need for a standard to its national member who then contacts
ISO. Contact details for national members can be found in the list of members.

2.
ISO
standards are based on global expert opinion

ISO
standards are developed by groups of experts from all over the world, that are part of larger groups
called technical committees. These
experts negotiate
all
aspects of the standard, including its scope, key definitions and content. Details can be found in the
list of technical
committees.

3.
ISO
standards are
developed through a multi-stakeholder process

The technical committees
are made up of experts from the relevant industry, but also from
consumer associations, academia, NGOs and government. Read more about who develops ISO
standards.

4. ISO
standards
are based on a consensus

Developing ISO standards is a consensus-based
approach and comments from all stakeholders are taken into account.

Do you want to get involved in standard development?

One
of the strengths of ISO standards is that they are created by the people that need them. Getting involved
in this process can bring significant advantages to your business.

For example,
it can help give you early access to information that could shape the market in
the future, give your company a voice in the development of standards and help to
keep market access open. Read more about getting involved in standards
development.